Not me. I got called to a 2 1/2 year mission, but when I entered the mission home, they started language training for all foreign missions and reduced all missions to 24 months.

Then back in the mid-1980s they reduced them suddenly to 18 months, but were not very good at explaining why. Does anybody know? Obviously that didn't work out so they bumped it back up to 24 months.


Just curious. My high school German teach did a 3-year mission. When did that go away?

I was in the 18-month mission window. They changed it back to 2 years while I was out and I was given the option of staying. I graciously declined. Nobody gave us any explanations.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2014 08:50AM by Inverso.

I guess that 18-month thing had a short life?

They quickly discovered that lopping off six months of foreign-speaking missions removed them exactly when they started being effective with the language. Another inspired move brought to you by the profits, sears and revelers in 50 E North Temple.

I was in Portugal with about a month left. This was just before Christmas and I already had my flight plans. The mission president called and said I had the choice to go or stay.

I didn't opt for the extension. As I recall, about half of my MTC district stayed and about half went home as scheduled.

How does that work out for the ladies then?

18 months here. Columbus Ohio. They reverted back to 24 months after I got home, so I didn't get the chance to tell them no.

I was called to a two-year mission to Bolivia but lucked out when it was reduced to 18 months in April 1982. Those that were already past the one year point had the option to stay the full two years or head home earlier, while those under a year automatically were switched to 18 months. There was an instant mass exodus out of Bolivia with virtually all missionaries already over 18 months headed home. I know of one that chose to stay for the full two years, but there may have been others. Of course that one fellow became an AP.

I don't know of an official explanation, but the reason I heard for the reduction had to do with the financial burden families of missionaries were facing during that high-interest-rate era of the early 80's. The 18-month plan didn't last very long, but when it was switched back to two years they instituted the uniform cost of a mission regardless of destination. That is another aspect where I lucked out with the timing. Since it was hard to spend even $100/month in Bolivia, I would have been pretty pissed if I had to fork over $400/month for the pleasure of living in third world country!

It's a very faith-promoting story.

My husband's brother served a mission at that time (82-83?). Their mother was sick with cancer. She had a long, drawn-out illness, and during that time, someone gave her a blessing that she would live to see her son return from his mission. Well lo and behold, he served an 18-month mission and she did live to see him come home and died shortly afterwards.

I have heard my husband and my father-in-law both solemnly testify many times that the reason for the shortening of the mission was because of that blessing.

I always had two thoughts when I heard that: First, really? Thousands of people's lives were changed because of that one blessing for that one person? What about the people whose lives were negatively affected by the shortened time? I mean, there's bound to be at least several returned missionaries from those 18 month missions who randomly had something terrible happen to them in the 6 months after they came home, that would not have happened to them if they had still been on their missions--accidents, etc.

My second thought was, whoever was stupid enough to say that in the blessing got incredibly lucky.

I was on a 30 month mission. The rules were changed while I was out. I had a the option to leave after 24 months, but stayed 28.5 months. That was in 1969.

When I was on my mission 69 to 71 apparently you could extend for six months too make it 2 1/2, but although you would hear many missionaries claiming they were going to because the "loved the missionary work and serving the Lord so much" because it was "so rewarding" dontcha know, BUT . . .nobody ever did. In the end they all got outa there as fast as they could. It was all pretense in the contest to see who could be the most spiritual.

Interesting. I thought some of them would extend just to avoid the draft.

Nobody talked much about the draft. The lottery system came out when I was on the mission so if you had a high number the pressure was off and most were counting on school deferments. It's all so hazy now but I think that's the way it was.

Hey, MY mission was Feb 69 - Feb 71, the so-called "Great Italian Mission" (dubbed so by Hartman Rector). Yeah, so anyway, they wound up the language machine for Italian just as I entered "service." Maybe I'm mistaken thinking that they did it for all missions all at the same time. Most of the guys I knew who had a choice decided to do all the 2 1/2 years. I mean, who wants to go back home from Italy, right?

If I'm not mistaken, there were also the 27-month missions that included Spanish-speaking, French-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, German-speaking and maybe Navajo-speaking. You did 3 months in language learning (the old LTM), then 24 months in the field. I think. My memory is a bit hazy.


Or, yeah--maybe they were just avoiding the draft.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2014 12:47PM by cludgie.

Yeah, I think they had just started including the language learning as part of the two years. I'm wondering now how long the LTM had been in business by the time I got there summer of 69?

Are you free to say where you went?

Argentina South--Pres. Bettilyon

Do you know that one of our APs, Wilford Anderson, is now a 2Q70 and President of the Carribean Area? He had 9 kids. His 2010 conference talk is online.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0i0bjlFtPI

My mission itinerary: La Plata, Caseros, Mar Del Plata, Neuquen, San Nicolas (probably forgot a couple others). While in Neuquen, I caught a Zone Conf in Bariloche - incredible scenery. Neuquen is now a mission home city.

My first senior companion got sent home for boinking his landlady.

With only a couple months left, I was called to be a DL, and within a week was struck down with appendicitis and ended up recuperating from surgery in the Mission Home.

Because of my illness, I was offered to go home a month early. My TMB dad made the decision for me with his admonision:

"Don't short change the Lord."

I left the Church 9 years later at age 30. My dad's assessment:

"He once showed so much promise."

Anyway, good chance you and I know each other, blueorchid.

Wow. Wilford Anderson looks so familiar. I'm sure I knew him.
It's all so hazy now though. I threw out my journal and now wish I hadn't. It was unreadable after I left the church because I tried so hard to make it sound like I was some kind of spiritual giant and it made me sick to read later.

I don't remember much of the details of my mission. I remember the sights and sounds, the alphajores and balcarce the most, and the empanadas. I loved it there but I can barely remember all the cities I served in or the names of my companions. There was Campana, San Nicolas, I think Rosario, and I don't remember where else. I wanted so bad to go to Bariloche but never got the chance.

I left at 23 while I was still at BYU. So nice to see a fellow Argentine Souther here. Maybe we do know each other.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2014 06:28PM by blueorchid.

I entered the LTM in June of 1965, after a week at the SLC mission home. Our mission time was based on three months in the LTM and then 24 months in our destination country.

I went to the Mexican Mission, when there were just four missions in Mexico.

I am curious as to when they closed the SLC mission home.

Because of some bureaucratic blunder my companion and I shared a double bed for a week. Melvin Truman Bowler of St. George, UT. He'd be a GA now, if ghawd hadn't called him to serve in the hereafter, less than a year after we were released. ... Ghawd and his mysterious plans.

My ex did the Southwest Indian (Navajo) Mission from June 1970-June 1972. It was 24 months. I know because I waited for the guy.

Okay-I-did-get-one-month-off-for-good-behavior-ly yrs,

S

I was in the 18 month window when it changed back to 2 years. There was quit a bit of pressure to extend. My parents wrote a letter to the MP that I had to be back for school and had to leave at the 17mo transfer. Then my parents came over to pick me up and we went on a 2 week european tour. I made it back with 2 days to start the new semester. It was more lax back then.

When I served in the early '60s the standard mission was 2 years if English speaking and 2 1/2 years if a foreign speaking mission since it would take a while to be able to converse naturally.

I thought it rather unfair, but later learned that at BYU the 2 1/2 year missionaries could take a foreign language waver test and be awarded 16 semester hours which normally takes a half a year to earn.

That BYU credit for language was even sweeter than you present it!

Those four four credit classes which you say comprised one semester's work were classes that had to be taken in series. So the waiver & credits were worth two years of work. I used them towards an easy-peasie Spanish minor and got out in three years.

Thank you. I certainly was not aware of that fact.

The U of U allowed us to take two upper level languages classes in Japanese (back with the quarter system) for six hours and get another ten hours of credit. That allowed me to get a minor in Japanese.

Before they did that RMs from Japan were taking the Japanese 101 series to learn the kanji characters, and hogging all the A's with little effort.

I was out for less than six months when it went to 18 months. People who were out more than a year could have a choice, but we didn't.

When my group went back, the group which had been out six months before would be going back at the same time if they stuck to the 24 months.

Only one guy did, everyone else had gone back at 18 months.

I ended up with 16 semester hours of Spanish credits ... which were totally worthless towards my BSEE Electrical Engineering '74.

Maybe I'll live long enough to Press 2 for English.

Haha Press 2 for Enlish It's coming you know.

I still use my Spanish every day as half the people I work with speak it.

Towards the end they extended the mission to 24 months.
When I heard that I just fell back on my bed and yelled, "Nooooooo" fortunately we had a choice of whether to extend or not. I chose NOT. Missions suck. Talk about a mindf^ck!

I drug my feet getting my papers in and missed the 18 month mission by a couple of months. I had a comp that was called 18 months and members would ask him if he was staying the full 24 or quitting after 18. It would make him so mad he would get red in the face. He would tell them he was staying the full 18 months he was called. Stupid Utah TBM's!

I spent 30 months in the French East Mission (April 1962 - October 1964) . . . before the days of formal language training. The mission home in SLC was an old, converted red brick hotel just up the hill from the temple. As I recall, we only spent a couple weeks there.

The extra six months was to enable us to learn the language. I loved being in France, didn't take the mission rules or work ethic seriously and so generally had a good time.

Got cross ways of the mission president, Henry D. Moyle, Jr. a few times. He sent me on a short "work mission" to help with construction of the Marseilles chapel to "wear out those damn cowboy boots".

The only significant rule/culture change that happened during my mission was they made us quit wearing hats. (I like hats.)

I know someone on RFM who did a 2-1/2 year mission . . . MY DAD

Quoting from http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1332633,1332661#msg-1332661

"I too am in my fifties and have a father who is 85+ and is a fifth generation BIC member. I read an article several months ago that made me search to see if Joseph Smith really translated the BoM with a rock and a hat. It disturbed me so much that I had to prove it wrong. Suddenly, I learned that it was true and that the perfect image I had of Joseph Smith suddenly began to fall rapidly. I couldn't stop reading. Before long I was digesting MormonThink. At each new discovery I would go over to my dad's house and share what I had just discovered.

"My father had been one of those TBM's that bought tons of books and read about deep doctrine. He considers himself a truth seeker. As I began to tell my father one thing or another, he would try to look up apologetic material to find answers. One day I went over late in the evening to show him the section in MT by Tom Donofrio -- the section of parallel wordings and stories in the BoM and other American writings of Joseph Smith's day. When I read a story line that ended similar to "Brethren Adieu" my dad flipped. He then started reading MormonThink.

"Long story short, after three months of sharing information, my TBM dad said, "the church is a fraud." One year later on one of my visits, I walked into his bedroom while he was reading RFM. He simply said, "I hate this church."

"This came from a man who had dedicated hundreds of thousands of dollars to tithing, building funds, scouts, at least a dozen full time missionaries, temple funds, fast offerings, etc. He's still in debt $200K on his mortgage because of all the $$$ he gave to TSCC over the years. Now he wished he had it all back and was debt free.

"My dad, in his late years, read the material and learned for himself that the Mormon Church cannot stand on its foundational claims. Period. He has not been to church in 1-1/2 years and never wants a thing to do with it again.

"His only regret: the money spent and the huge posterity of TBM's that he now has in the brainwashed clutches of the Morg. He regrets it all. But, he now lives guilt free and tells me often how happy he is that I persisted at showing him what I was discovering.

"Everyone is different and may or may not be open to the truth, especially in their twilight years. Those who are really honest with their minds (like my dad) and are not afraid to read anything CAN leave the church and become an exmo."

----
My DAD now reads RFM everyday and loves it!

This is a great story. Best wishes to Dad!

My dad went to his grave last July still knowing THE CHURCH IS TROO!

My nazi seminary teacher always used to claim that because of a mix up, he was not only sent state side after being called to a 2 1/2 year foreign mission, after having language training, but that the mix up also ended up with him being on his mission for 3 1/2 years.

IMHO, he was a liar just like Dunn, who incidentally he absolutely hated.

I'd been out for (I think) nearly 21 months when the sentences were reduced from 24 to 18. They gave us eligibles the option of leaving at the upcoming transfer or any transfer thereafter.

By then I'd already mentally checked out, but I remained for an additional two months anyway. Why? Because I thought of the reduction as a golden ticket to play. The way I figured it, I was officially on overtime, and I didn't even have to pretend to care any longer. What were they going to do, send me home?

Those last two months were good. No pressure to perform at all. Our district lived in one apartment, so I just let the DL report whatever numbers he wanted. Didn't read scriptures. I don't even think we did morning or evening prayers. It was liberating, being able to *openly* blow the mission off like that.

When I was a teen it was all 2 year missions...and that's all most of the guys on my dorm floor at Ricks (except me) could talk about and how exited they were to going on their missions and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why?

RB

April conference 1982 I had 1.5 years left, then BAM, 1 year. Even ONE year left was way too much. Then not long after I was done, it was put back to two years. Never did really understand why. I think I remember some crap about so more RMs could get into school at the right times? I dunno.